LOS ANGELES -- Although the Dodgers have downplayed their concern about Edwin Díaz's diminished fastball velocity to open the season, manager Dave Roberts said he is "treading lightly" with the closer's usage while the team figures out what is going on with his stuff.
Díaz blew his first save as a Dodger on Friday, and it was also just the sixth time in his career that he had averaged 95.5 mph or lower with his four-seamer in a game (min. five pitches). That night was not an isolated incident, as the right-hander has thrown his fastball at 95.8 mph on average in six appearances this year, down from 97.2 mph last season.
“I think I didn’t have my life on my fastball, and I couldn’t command my slider the way I wanted to," Díaz said ahead of the Dodgers’ series finale against the Rangers on Sunday. "I was feeling good. But I didn’t have my best stuff that day. That’s part of the game. I just flush it right away.”
After Díaz needed 23 pitches to get through the ninth inning on Friday, Roberts told reporters that his closer was down on Saturday, when left-hander Alex Vesia closed out the Rangers in his stead. Díaz is not necessarily down for Sunday's game, but Roberts said his availability would depend on how Díaz came out of catch play.
"It's not an IL thing we're talking about," Roberts said. "It's more day to day."
Both Díaz and Roberts maintained that the closer is not dealing with any physical or mechanical issues. Because the Dodgers don't believe Díaz is hurt, their level of concern remains low. But they do want him to get right.
"Below moderate, so it's low," Roberts said. "He takes very good care of himself. Obviously, he's a high-profile player, very important to our club. That's probably why … I had him down yesterday. Today I'm still kind of yellow-lighting him and seeing once I hear back from the pitching coaches."
After Díaz's first blown save, Roberts said that Díaz tends to be a slower starter with regard to his velocity. The data backs that up, as five of the six outings in which Díaz has averaged 95.5 mph or lower with his fastball have come in March or April.
Before Díaz tore the patellar tendon in his right knee during the 2023 World Baseball Classic, he didn't tend to have an early-season downtick in velocity. But from 2024 on, his fastball velocity has averaged 96.4 mph in March/April before ticking upwards of 97 mph in the following months.
"After my injury in my knee, it’s been like that my last two years," Díaz said. "But as soon as the season starts going, I start feeling better and better and better. And my velo at the end of the year will be what I’m throwing always.”
The Dodgers are hopeful that will be the case this year as well, but they are being cautious because of what happened with one of their big free-agent signings from last year. Lefty starter Blake Snell, who began this year on the IL with left shoulder fatigue, said his shoulder never felt right at any point of last year, but wanted to prove himself after joining the team on a five-year, $182 million contract.
Díaz is in the beginning of a three-year, $69 million contract, a record in average annual value for a reliever. He's no stranger to high expectations, having spent six seasons pitching for the Mets, but the Dodgers want to be sure that he doesn't try to reach them at the expense of his health.
"You've got to respect that they want to be out there. But then we all kind of end up with the short straw if the player goes down," Roberts said. "That's kind of what happened with Blake. All the right intentions, but at that point, he would do it over again. Eddie's trying to obviously make an impression, wants to be a part of things. We're trying to kind of take that with a grain of salt."